Fuel Discount Programs in Spotlight
In light of recent trucking industry news, many trucking companies have started to question their fuel discount and rebate programs. Tracking your fuel consumption closely is a smart way to monitor costs and savings, as well as protect against fraud. With so many different types of fuel discount programs, it can be confusing to know exactly what you’re getting.
Common Fuel Discount Programs for Truckers
Cash-minus Discounts
Also called “cents off”, this is the most straight-forward type of fuel discount. Whatever the retail/cash-price is, your price for fuel is a few cents off the price at the pump.
Cost-Plus Discounts
The cost-plus fuel discount is based on the cost of the fuel to the truck stop plus a few cents. This is one of the more common types of discounts for larger trucking companies. When the retail mark-up on fuel goes up or the wholesale price of fuel drops, the discounts per gallon increase.
Cost-Minus Discounts
This program is very similar to the cost-plus program, except instead of adding a few cents to the cost price of the fuel, one or more cents is subtracted. Cost-minus provides excellent discounts and is typically restricted to only the very largest trucking companies.
Fuel Rebates
Fuel rebates are usually a flat amount, typically ranging from 1 to 5 cents per gallon, which are given back to the purchaser after a period of time. This requires tracking of how many gallons of fuel were purchased over a time-frame to accurately calculate the amount of the rebate.
Between the seven discount truck stop chains on Apex’s fuel discount program, all these types of discounts can be found. Because fuel prices change daily, sometimes multiple times per day, it’s important for Apex fuel card holders to continually check the Apex Fuel Finder to obtain the best-priced fuel on every route, every day.
Tracking Your Fuel Discounts
Trucking industry professionals should be aware of exactly how their discounts are calculated and tracked to ensure accuracy and protect themselves. Using Apex’s fuel card, all of your gallons and discounts are automatically calculated and tracked for you. This information can be accessed easily online, 24/7. While it is possible for POS discounts to be missed, this is extremely rare. Accordingly, we encourage clients to always make certain their POS discounts have been posted.
At the close of each month, Apex verifies all rebate information against EFS’ discount information to be sure everything is calculated correctly. Since the very beginning of the Apex fuel card program, Apex has verified discount information this way. Apex clients can rest assured they are getting 100% of their full discount every time.